Humidifier



May i3 1924. 1,493,541

W. F. HIATT HUMIDIFIER Filed Oct. l, 192C 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 n chrome/13g May B3 1924.

W. F. HIATT HUMIDIFIER `Filed 0G13. l, 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 woemtoz Maly' i3 1924, ',4g3,541

W. F. HIATT HUMIDIFIER- Filed oct. 1, 1920 s sheets-sheet 5 MFM@ ff raaaaa May! is, ism.

'tlhit'f STATE maaar carica.

WILLIAM F. HIATT, F INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR T0 THE H-O-B MFG. C0., A.

' CORPORATION 0F INDIANA.

Hummrrm.

Application led October 1, 1920. erial No. 414,066.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. HIA'r'r, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Humidifiers, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to means for furnishing a highly combustible mixturelto internal combustion engines.

It is an established fact that with the present low grade fuel oils used in internal combustion engines relatively low efficiency is obtained, due to the incomplete combustion of the fuel which, in addition to requiring a large expenditure of fuel to produce a satisfactory power output, results in an abnormally large deposit of carbon on the surfaces of the combustion chamber, thereby necessitating frequent removal 'and otherwise generally impairing the operation of the engine.

In the present,invention, the eiciency of the engine is increased by the addition of heated air and superheated steam to the darbureted mixture both for initially forming the mixture and for diluting the previously formed mixture, thus materially diminishing the fuel consumption and, at the same time, substantially eliminating carbon deposits and rendering it possible to procure more even torque by reason of the fact that the power impulses are more nearly uniform.

Furthermore, the construction of the invention is such that a metering valve directly proportions the volume of diluting fluid to thc volume of carbureted mixture burned by the engine, depending upon the speed and power output of the engine, so that for low engine speed with small throttle opening` a lesser amount of the diluting fluid is used than when the throttle is fully open for high speed or maximum power.

The invention possesses the further advantage of providing for complete automatic cut-off of the supply of the diluting fluid when the spark is retarded as, for instance, in starting the engine, pulling extremely hard grades with a motor vehicle, and under similar conditions of low spark with open throttle.

A further feature of the'invention resides inthe provision of an exhaust. manifold having an internal superheating tube disposed lengthwise of the manifold and extending practically the entire distance from the foremost to the rearmost exhaust port and receiving air and water vapor at one end which are heated to an extremely high degree before reaching the other end wherev they are then delivered in the heated state to the air intake of the carbureter and to the intake manifold of the engine.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a side elevation of a motor vehicle power plant equipped with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary fronty elevation of the engine thus equipped.

Figure 3 is a sectional view showing the proportioning and controlling valvesy employed.

Fi figmentary) through the exhaust mani- Figure 5 is a side elevation of a vehicle motor equipped with the modified form of the invention. p

Fi 1re 6 is a viewv similar-t0 Figure 5 showing still another form.l

Figure 7 is also a viewsimilar to Figure 5 showing yet another form.

In detail:

Theinvention, as herein shown, is applied to the well known Ford engine of the present period,`though itis ,equally applicable to any internal combustiony engine.

The cylinder block ofthe engine is indicated at A and is coupled by the hose B with the radiator C having the filler spout D closed by the cap E.

A standard exhaust manifold is replaced by a special exhaust manifold 1, while the standard intake ymanifold 2 is retained in use, both manifolds being .held by the ordinary fastening means 3 characteristic of the Ford motor. The exhaust manifold l `houses an air-intake heater tube 4 disposed gure 4 is a longitudinal vertical section manifold is enlarged somewhat over the usual standard manifold so as to provide the same exhaust area as the standard manifold, thus eliminating any possibility of developing and ends in an outlet in a boss 7 which receives a separating or dividing chamber 8` of bulbous form and provided with a fla-nge 9 held to the boss 7 'by bolts 10. This dividing chamberk 8 carries an outlet elbow 11 connected by means of Flexible tubing 12 or a like conduit, with the air-intake 13 of the usual carbureter 14.

During the time that the engine A is in operation, water vapor is present in large volume above the water level in the radiator Gand some of this is taken oil' by a water vapor tube 15 leading through a suitable connection 16 in the radiator reservoir to a location beneath the filler cap E, the end of said tube being bentupwardly as shown at 17 and then turned downwardly as at 18 to prevent the entrance of water in liquid form during filling of the radiator. A suitable bend 19 may be incorporated in the tube 15 to absorb vibrations which might otherwise tend to fracture the tube. Theoutlet end of the tube 15 carries a union 20 connecting the same with anozzle 21 entering the forward end of the heater tube 4. whereby the water vapor passes along the highly heated heater tube 4 in the form of steam, at the same time being thoroughly mixed with the incoming air.

:interposed between the flange 22 of the intakemanifold 2 and the carbureter outlet flange 23 is a similarly shaped flange-like 'member 24,` the three being held rigidly together by bolts 25l extending through holes 25.

This member 24 constitutes the body of a proportioning and controlling valve and has an upwardly extending stem 26. provided with a fluid assage 27 leading into an openforms a part of the engine intake passage.

, Located with axes in parallel relation and intercepting the fluid passage 27, are the two plunger chambers 29 and 30, the former of which contains a plunger stop valve 31 comprising a guiding stem 32, a reduced neck 33 and a valve body 34; while the latter chamber receives a metering valve 35 having the guiding stem 36, conical metering portion 37 and end guiding disc 38.

The stop valve -31 is connected by a link 39 with the spark control rod through the medium of a suitable leverl 41 carried rby the said control rod so that when the spark is retarded, the passage 27 is completely closed by the valve body 34, as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 3, and yet when the 'engine is running and the spark is advanced,.the passageway 27 is unobstructed except by the reduced neck 33.

The metering valve 35 is connected by a link42, as at 43. with the operating rod 44' of the carbureter throttling valve 45 which, in turn, is connected-with the usual controlling rod 46 so that by reason of the tapered or conical metering portion 37, a greater or less amount of vapor passes directly into the intake manifold to dilute the normal carburcted mixture, lthe amount so passing being dependent upon whether the throttle is opened considerably or just a little. At any rate, the construction of the metering valve is such that the volume of diluting vapor' entering the cal'bureted mixture is directly proportional to the volume of carbureted mixture passing to the engine.

At the top of the dividing chamber 8 is a union 47 connecting with a tube 48 leading to a similar union 49 at the head ofthe valve chamber 26. whereby a proper supply of` heated air and superheated water vapor or steam is delivered'to the chamber 26.

The operation is as follows:

ln I starting as is customary with the spark fully retarded, the stop valve 31 closes oil' the passage 27 so that only the normal rich carbureted mixture` is delivered from the carbureter to the intake manifold.

However, once the engine is running and becomes warmed up, the spark then being advanced, the stop valve 31 moves to open up the passage 27 so that on subsequent movement of the throttle valve by means of the operating rod 44 and control rod 46, the metering valve 35 is S0 regulated that a proper ratio of diluting {luid (air and superheated steam) is maintained with respect -to the volume of carblureted mixture drawn from the carbureter by the engine.

Also, now that the engineis hot, the carbureter receives its `supply or' air and superheated steam through the conduit 12 from the dividing chamber 8, thus insuring proper vaporization of low grade gasoline, kerosene, or like, and insuring the eilicient operation of they engine with a minimum of carbon deposit.

While, in the foregoing description, l'

have described the invention as applied to the Ford engine, it is nevertheless apparent that slight structural changes adapt the same to other internal combustion engines andhence the invention is not to be construed as strictly limited to a Ford accespipe being tapped into the inlet manifold as at 15". In the form of the invention shown in Figure 6, the pipe 15a is similarly coiled about the superheater tube but instead of being tapped into the inlet manifold it is tapped into the elbow 11 of the separator dome.

The invention as shown in Figure 7 differs from that shown in Figure 1 only in that moisture pipe 15d is provided with a cutoff cock 16n and likewise the pipe 48h is provided with a similarcutoff cock 49 and is tapped into the Y of the inlet manifold, as indicated at 50".

Having thus described fthe invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. vIn a device of the character described, an exhaust manifold having an internally spaced air tube connected at its ends to the wall of the manifold and extending from a point near the rear end thereof to a point near the forward end thereof opening at its end through "said wall, the front end of thetube being v'open to the atmosphere, a separating chamber secured upon the manifold over the rear end of said tube,

means for connecting said chamber with the primary intake of a carbureter, and a vapor supply pipe in communication with said| tube near the forward end thereof, whereby vapor Ais made to enter said tube together with atmospheric air.

2. In a device of the character described, an exhaust manifold having an internally spaced air tube connected at its ends to the Wall of the manifold and extending from a point near the rear end thereof to a point near the forward end thereof opening at its end through said Wall, the front end of the tube being open to receive atmospheric air, a separating chamber secured upon the manifold over the rear end of said tube, means for connecting said chamber with the primary intake of a carbureter, and a vapor supply pipe leading from the radiator of the engine through the manifold and entering said tube near the forward end thereof.

In testimony whereof YI afx my signature.

WiLLiAM F. HIATT, [L 8.] 

